


As If You're Never Down

by SocialDegenerate



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bittersweet, Established Relationship, M/M, Sappy, Singing, World of Ruin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 12:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11828460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocialDegenerate/pseuds/SocialDegenerate
Summary: They were going to be okay.From there on, Ignis had poured his best efforts into both his cooking and his hunting, to the point where Gladio could almost believe that things were back in a good place. They’d never be like they were before, but there was a chance they could be just as good.





	As If You're Never Down

**Author's Note:**

> This is...well, I'm not really sure what this is, but it might take a little context lmao. In Japanese, Iggy’s voice actor is also decently popular as a pop singer (fun fact: Prompto’s seiyuu also has a few solo mini-albums, and Noct’s seiyuu is the singer of a rock band), so I was like ‘man Iggy would have such a nice singing voice’. Then I realised that meant _I_ had to make Iggy sing, and this is what I ended up with.
> 
> The title is a hint as to what Iggy is singing, due to all previous FF soundtracks being canon in the XV game lmao, even if halfway through I realised it kind of sounded like a cruel joke. I was gonna change it, but I’m weirdly attached to that song and it’s about singing to someone you love sooooo…

“Hey, you seen Iggy?”

“Who?” The hunter in front of Gladio asked, not bothering to look up from where he was cleaning his gun.

“ _Ignis_ ,” Gladio clarified, managing to mostly resist the urge to roll his eyes. “About yea tall, wears a lot of black, prettier than he has any right to be…”

“Oh!” The hunter said, finally looking up. “The blind guy, yeah? Big scars on his face?”

“...Yes,” Gladio said tightly, knowing that they weren’t exactly _incorrect_ descriptors but not wanting them to be Ignis’ defining traits. “Do you know where he is or not?”

“Ease up, buddy,” the hunter said dismissively as he looked back down at his gun, and Gladio’s fists clenched. He was better than that, though, and he forced himself to relax. It was hard enough to survive through the endless night _without_ in-fighting.

Plus Ignis would frown at him if he got word of Gladio fighting with another hunter, and Gladio didn’t want that.

“He’s in the kitchen,” the hunter continued, lazily waving a hand in the general direction of what had once been Takka’s Pit Stop. Takka himself had relocated to Lestallum towards the start of the darkness, and the place had long since been taken over as a hunting hub.

Grunting at the hunter in what definitely _wasn’t_ thanks, Gladio turned on his heel and made for the former diner. Despite the hunter’s attitude, he was glad to hear that Ignis was in the kitchen again: he’d resisted for a long time after being blinded, a combination of feeling utterly unable and being reminded of Noctis.

Once he’d begrudgingly started learning how to cook without sight, though, Ignis had eventually admitted that the normality of the act made him feel better. He felt like he got in the way during hunts, Ignis had admitted to Gladio late one night, but he could still help everyone by cooking for them.

Gladio had assured him that he wasn’t a hindrance, far from it, but Ignis had just smiled tightly at him in a way that made the scar across his lip pull and bulge. He’d been quiet after that, but he’d let Gladio pull him close before they fell asleep.

From there on, Ignis had poured his best efforts into both his cooking and his hunting, to the point where Gladio could _almost_ believe that things were back in a good place. They’d never be like they were _before_ , but there was a chance they could be just as good.

Nodding to the hunters milling around the supply crates inside the former diner, Gladio grinned when two of them simultaneously pointed towards the closed door at the back of the room, where a full kitchen had been outfitted. It was usually up to everyone to feed themselves, but when the right supplies came in Ignis would sometimes put together something to feed the whole camp, refusing to take any payment.

Gladio never mentioned the particularly insistent hunters that would slip him supplies in lieu of passing them directly to Ignis, but he was pretty sure that Ignis knew anyway.

Walking up to the door, Gladio put his hand on the knob and paused when he heard something through the door. It wasn’t unusual for Ignis to talk to himself as he cooked, trying to remember the recipes he could no longer read, but this didn’t sound like talking.

It sounded like... _singing_.

Grinning, Gladio pressed himself a little closer to the door, ignoring the snickering coming from behind him. In years long gone, he had occasionally walked into Ignis’ apartment to find him singing quietly to himself as he cooked or cleaned, his voice melodic and beautiful in the quiet home.

He’d done the same a few times at campsites when the four of them were still together, which had usually ended with Prompto jumping up to make it a duet, but Gladio hadn’t heard so much as a hum since the... _incident_.

For Ignis to start again _now_ meant that he had to be feeling good, and Gladio grinned helplessly as he opened the door.

His grin dropped when Ignis immediately went quiet, his hands stilling where he was carefully cutting vegetables.

“Don’t stop,” Gladio requested as he stepped in and shut the door again, leaning back against it.

“ _Gladio_ ,” Ignis said, sounding relieved as he started chopping again. “I wasn’t expecting you back for a while yet.”

“Hunt was even easier than I expected,” Gladio explained. It might have been a hassle for someone less experienced, but years of fighting for survival everyday were even better training than what Cor had put them through back at the Citadel. “Don’t let me bother you, I just wanted to see you.”

“Well, here I am,” Ignis said dryly, but Gladio could see the smile on his lips. “Just don’t sit on the counter.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Gladio said as he settled back against the door from where he’d started moving to do just that. Even without his sight, Ignis’ perception was _terrifying_.

He let the conversation die after that, watching Ignis’ hands just in case he made a mistake; but even though he was going slower than he once would have, Ignis’ ability to do anything perfectly didn’t let him down. Together, they’d modified the kitchen and its implements to be as accessible as possible, and Ignis had been unstoppable once he’d gotten used to the new system.

A few minutes passed with only the sounds of Ignis’ cooking filling the kitchen, and Gladio had almost resigned himself to not hearing what he was after when he heard a few quiet notes, hummed almost under Ignis’ breath. Keeping his mouth firmly shut so as to not shake Ignis’ concentration, Gladio grinned when humming slowly became singing.

It was a little hard to place the song when the only accompaniment was the sound of the meal coming together, but the lyrics sounded familiar…

And then Gladio realised that it was a song from one of the CDs that Noctis had always insisted on buying from the little stalls at outposts, and his eyes definitely weren’t getting the tiniest bit misty as he stared at the faint, wistful expression on Ignis’ face.

His voice trailing off as he reached the end of the song, Ignis put down his knife and placed his hand on the edge of the counter, using it as a guide while he walked around the room towards Gladio. Pushing away from the door just as Ignis reached him, Gladio let strong arms wrap around his waist, putting his own around Ignis’ shoulders to hold him close.

“We’re going to be okay,” Ignis said, his lips moving against the bare skin at the hollow of Gladio’s throat.

“Yeah.”

“We’re going to survive until he comes back, and then we’re all going to fix this together.”

“Yeah,” Gladio said again, beginning to rock gently to the silent beat of the song Ignis had been singing. It was something he’d said to Ignis during his worst days, when Ignis hadn’t really believed it; hearing him say it now with conviction in his voice was enough to have him holding Ignis as tightly as he could.

“I should finish dinner,” Ignis said eventually, reluctantly wriggling from Gladio’s strong grasp.

“You want some help?” Gladio asked, feeling equally as reluctant when he slowly let Ignis go. He wasn’t as good as Ignis in the kitchen, whether it was now or then, but he knew enough to keep malnutrition at bay.

“I’m almost done,” Ignis said. “Just...keep me company?”

“Of course,” Gladio said as he leaned back against the door. As Ignis walked back to his abandoned food, fingers trailing against the counter again, Gladio could already hear him humming under his breath.

In truth, he hadn’t entirely believed that they would be okay either. The endless night was hard, and sometimes he doubted that Noctis really _would_ be coming back.

But Ignis sounded _certain_ , and that was more than good enough for Gladio.

They _would_ be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come talk to me on Tumblr](http://socialdegenerate.tumblr.com)


End file.
